Rainy Porch Steps
by gleekbowtie
Summary: Mercedes and Artie get caught out in the rain together.


The rain was thumping against the car windows as Artie's mother, his friend Mercedes and himself drove over to his house. School just ended and his mom had an important work meeting to attend. Artie and Mercedes made plans the night before to hang out and play a couple of games and bake after school the following day. They pulled next the curb outside of the light brown house and Mercedes stepped outside first, and then went over to Artie's side of the car to help him out.

"You two have fun! Be safe and don't do anything inappropriate!" Artie's mom called out of her window and the two of them said goodbye to her. She pulled away and Mercedes pushed Artie's wheelchair up to the porch.

The two of them just stayed silent for a while, expecting the other to open the door.

"So…Are we going to stay here or?" Mercedes asked awkwardly.

"Don't you have the key?" Artie asked and Mercedes look worriedly at him.

"I thought you were going to get it from your mom!" She replied and his eyes grew wide.

"No! I thought _you _were going to get it!" He shot back, voice rising due to the rain getting louder around them.

"Artie!" Mercedes yelled angrily. "She's not my mom! Why would you expect me to get it?" She sighed and stood as much as she could under the overhang to keep herself from getting drenched.

"Well I don't have my phone on me, do you?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, thankfully." She pulled her phone out and unlocked it, seeing the battery was almost dead she spoke quickly. "Who should I call?"

"Um…Finn…he lives a couple blocks away, maybe we could hang out there."

As she began to look for Finn's contact her phone went blank. She tried restarting the phone but it just wouldn't.

"I forgot to charge my phone this morning. Great." She slid it back into her pocket and rested on the front door.

"Well since Finn lives close by let's just walk over there!" Artie suggested.

"Oh hell no. I refuse to get my weave wet." She replied hotly.

"Then hold your jacket over your head!" He said with an arm gesture.

"I ain't doing that either. If I take my jacket off then my new shirt will get ruined."

Artie sighed deeply. "Then I guess we're stuck here for a good couple of hours."

"I guess so."

It grew quiet again. The wind blew heavily, making the trees and bushes' leaves blow off. Rain hit against the windows of all the houses.

"Can't we just ask your neighbors for help?" She broke the silence and Artie shook his head. "Why not?"

"They're not home, either…They're out on a cruise."

"You mean to tell me, white boy, that everyone on your block is out on a cruise?"

"Most…the others are some really creepy elders and empty houses." He looked up at her sadly. "I'm sorry this is turning out to be such a bad day for you."

"Why would you say that?" Her voice quivered slightly.

"You seem really upset." He looked down at his hands, also quivering. "Those football players at school are right…I'm such an idiot."

"No you aren't!" She replied and looked at him softly. "Please don't ever say that again!"

"Well I obviously am one! Because now we're stuck out here!" He replied. "And you're mad at me!"

"When did I ever say I was mad at you?" She asked questioningly.

"Your actions show enough."

"I'm not upset with you, Artie. It's just relationship drama." She looked down at her feet when her friend looked over at her. Artie could see droplets falling from her face and recognized it wasn't the rain.

"Dear, are you crying?" He asked. "Want to talk about it?" She nodded and sat down on the rainy porch steps next to his wheel chair.

"It's Sam. Sam Evans." She shook her head. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Sam? Are you dating him?" Artie asked, somewhat shocked that she brought up one of his closest friends.

"I'm not dating him, but he wants to date me…" She continued but didn't once look at Artie. "You know I was dating Shane right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't know that you two ever broke up."

"I had to leave him. I couldn't stay with him with all that…regret." She sighed.

"What regret? What did you do?" Artie's eyebrows were furrowed as he listened eagerly to what she was saying. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want too, though."

"No. I want to tell you. You're one of the few people I actually trust." Artie's heart grew warmer. "I c-cheated on Shane…when I was dating him I…kissed Sam."

Artie became confused. "Let me get this straight…So you were dating Shane and cheated on him by kissing Sam? So then you broke up with Shane and Sam wants to be with you?"

Mercedes simply nodded solemnly.

"So why don't you just date Sam then?" Artie didn't take his eyes off of her.

"Because I don't want to!" She replied full of frustration. "He's a great guy but I don't want to be with him! And he doesn't respect that! I messed up, and now there's nothing I can do to fix my mistakes!" She cried harder and shivered by the chill of the little bit of rain hitting them.

Artie ran his hand through his hair and tried his best to get out of his jacket.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Artie didn't reply but instead tenderly set the winter jacket on her back. He leaned over and used the sleeve of his shirt to dry the tears from her face. "Please don't cry, boo." He said softly and she smiled.

"You're so beautiful when you smile, you know that?" He said and she bit her lip.

"Why are you being so sweet to me?" She asked.

"Because you deserve it." He replied.

"You know, after all the fake boyfriends and lost friendships, it's been hard for me to trust people you know?" She looked up at him again and he nodded.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. After I had gotten in the car accident that left my paralyzed I didn't want to go to school. My parents didn't make me go for a couple of weeks until I had fully adjusted to my wheel chair." He told her. "I had a really good friend who lived next to me. One day he asked me why I hadn't been showing up to school and I told him what had happened. He promised to me that he wouldn't tell any of the kids at school but when I showed up there weeks after they all knew. I was really insecure about it and when they teased me…it really hurt." Artie shrugged and tears filled his eyes. "I always felt like I would never be fully accepted for it. To some it doesn't seem like a big deal but sometimes to me I just don't feel normal. I can't do the things regular people can do. I can't dunk a basketball like all the other boys can..."

"But you have an amazing heart." Mercedes said. "That's what matters most."

She took Artie's hand and held it close.

"I wish there were more people like you." He said warmly. "You make me happy."

"I'm glad." She chuckled and squeezed his cold hand. "I'm used to being teased, too."

"Why would people harass _you?_" He asked.

"I've gotten bullied for my race and my weight." She replied. "I've also had troubles with being a little overweight and many kids have teased me for it. My parents tell me to just shake it off but it's just hard to with name calling at school. It's something I've always struggled with, one of my biggest insecurities, and I feel like there's nothing I can really do about it."

"I think you're gorgeous, don't ever listen to them." Artie smiled lovingly. "Sorry to interrupt…"

"It's fine." She smiled back. "And I also get hated for my race. Most of the time the hate isn't aimed directly towards me but when I hear racist slurs and jokes it hurts me inside. Some people just have no heart nowadays. Being the way I am is something I can't change; it's something that no one can change. But some just can't understand that."

"I know, racism is disgusting." He agreed. "I'm sorry you get any hate for that, you don't deserve to."

"Thanks." She smiled weakly. "You're something special, you know that?"

He leaned over and kissed her check softly. "So are you."

The rain came to a halt and the clouds faded, exposing the sun.

"Oh my gosh it stopped raining!" Mercedes said happily, she handed Artie his jacket and stood up to stretch.

"Want to walk over to Finn's house now?" Artie asked.

"Sure." They both smiled and walked in the sunlight over to their friend's house.

"I'm actually glad we had that talk together." Mercedes grinned, standing behind Artie' pushing his chair forward.

"Me too." He replied with a small content smile spread across his face.


End file.
